Imagine Huizenga's new legacy

DAVE HYDE Commentary

December 16, 2007|DAVE HYDE

Let's not mince words: H. Wayne Huizenga selling the Dolphins just wouldn't be bad news for Dolphins fans, considering he cares a lot and spends even more. It would be bad for Huizenga's sports legacy, too.

It would be him saying that, like Jimmy Johnson and Nick Saban, he can't stomach losing anymore. It would leave him remembered for selling off the Marlins at their top in unsettling fashion and for deserting the Dolphins at their bottom.

Huizenga has his share of critics about his Dolphins ownership. He has his faults, too. He'll be the first to say his football hires don't match up with his business hires.

But Huizenga always has delivered the two things good sports owners do. He has tried to hire the best people available and given them the resources to win. Of course, what that means today is he has watched his franchise rot as some right-looking decisions turned wrong in embarrassing order.

So maybe he's had enough. Maybe he's less the fan who had season tickets in the 1966 expansion year and more the businessman who sees a cool $1 billion from the sale.

But if Huizenga sells this franchise, it might as well be 1966 again for this franchise. They'd have the look and feel of an expansion team with all the instability. Look at the cast today: no proven coach or quarterback. No roster at all. Maybe not even an owner with a sports portfolio to hire desired talent.

This entire Dolphins season is becoming like that George Clooney movie Syriana, where no one has any idea what's going on or what's coming next. Who's in? Who's out? Who's that moving off in the shadows? Is that Clooney or Bill Parcells?

Just look at the unscripted nuttiness today offers. There's the 0-13 Dolphins, threatening history from one side. There's New England standing 13-0, threatening it from another.

To add to the fun, the '72 Dolphins will be honored for their undefeated season. Who would you rather see, Larry Csonka carry the ball or Samkon Gado?

"I'm ready to go in at quarterback," kicker Garo Yepremian said. "I've been working on the backward pass for the past 35 years."

At this strange intersection of winning, losing and history comes news Huizenga might sell the team. It's been rumored for a few years. Just don't bet he'll sell it to the pair who made the news, real-estate developers Steven Ross and Jorge Perez.

Ross and Perez might be smart in real estate. But Huizenga holds the deed here and he couldn't have liked Perez going public about private negotiations.

It didn't just embarrass Huizenga. It had to make him wonder if Perez is interested in closing the deal or just making a headline.

Huizenga released one of those statements Saturday that said everything and nothing at all. He might just be listening to offers. He might be selling the team. He might be selling part of the team.

Go ahead, root for him to sell, if you want. A lot of fans are these losing days. They figure whoever comes in has to be better. Throw this entire miserable season at his feet, because you can connect the dots from Huizenga hiring Jimmy Johnson to Dave Wannstedt to Nick Saban to standing at 0-13 today.

But lots of teams wanted Jimmy and Saban and neither worked out. You need luck in sports, people always forget. New England's Bob Kraft got lucky with coach Bill Belichick, then again with taking quarterback Tom Brady in the sixth round.

Huizenga has tried to buy the biggest coaches and hasn't had any luck with quarterbacks. That's how it goes sometimes. That doesn't make him an awful owner. Just an awfully unlucky one.

A year ago, in his office, Huizenga stopped at the dozens of business awards he has won that were sitting on a table.

"This is what I'll be remembered like in business, and nothing I do from here on can probably change that" he said. "In sports, I'll be remembered for selling the Marlins. I don't think anything I do will probably change that."

His selling the Dolphins now would change that legacy. Selling the Dolphins on the verge of an 0-16 season would make his sports name even more questionable. That's just how it is. He wouldn't simply be remembered as the guy who quit on baseball, a sport he never embraced, while at the top.

He'd be the guy who also quit on football, a sport he loves, while at the very bottom.